Source for homeschool parents

[Why Syzygy]

This looks like good quality. No personal experience with these materials here.


Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that produces simple and easy to use classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. It was founded by Cheryl Lowe in 1994 to help promote and transmit the classical heritage of the Christian West through an emphasis on the liberal arts and the great works of the Western tradition. Memoria Press is currently developing a K-12 classical curriculum at Highlands Latin School in Louisville, Kentucky, where its popular Latin, logic, and classical studies courses are developed and field-tested.
...
The liberal arts are the generalizable linguistic and mathematical skills that enable a person to excel in every academic area—as well as in the practical activities of life. In classical and medieval times, there were thought to be seven of these arts or skills: grammar, logic, and rhetoric (the “trivium”), as well as arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (the “quadrivium”). The first three were linguistic arts, and the last four were mathematical. We would probably say today that there are more than just the four mathematic skills worthy of mastery, but the liberal arts remain the greatest summary of the skills a person should be expected to know in order to be accounted an educated person.

Through the study of the greatest that has been thought and said by Western writers and thinkers, we pass our cultural heritage on to our children. Western civilization is made up of three elements: the Greeks, the Romans, and the Hebrews—and the coalescing of these three cultures into what later became known as Christendom, the Christian civilization that remained the dominant cultural force in the West until the early 20th century. A familiarity with the Greeks, the Romans, and, most importantly, the Christian Bible is essential to understanding our culture.

The liberal arts are the “how” of education, and the study of Western culture is the “what”. A mastery of both of these is the best way to prepare a child, not only for college, but for life.

http://www.memoriapress.com/about/index.html


* Traditional Logic I: Introduction to Formal Logic
Finally, an excellent book for teaching the original thinking skill, Logic. This book, designed for grades 8 and up, provides a systematic study of formal logic without falling prey to the topic-hopping found in most contemporary logic programs. read more

* Traditional Logic I DVDs
Welcome the author, Martin Cothran, into your classroom with these wonderful teaching DVDs.

* Handbook of Christian Apologetics
This book, by Peter Kreeft, is the perfect supplement for Traditional Logic.

* Traditional Logic II: Advanced Formal Logic - This book is a continuation of Traditional Logic, Book I. It covers the four figures of the traditional syllogism, the three forms of rhetorical arguments (called enthymemes), the three kinds of hypothetical syllogisms, the four kinds of complex syllogisms, as well as relational arguments.

* Traditional Logic II DVDs
Welcome the author, Martin Cothran, into your classroom with these won

http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/index_logic.htm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. This would be good--for 100 years ago

but the world is far different now. To ignore the literature and thought of other civilizations is shortchanging students. They should be exposed to the literature of India and China and the Muslim world, for example.

[Why Syzygy]

6. This isn't presented

as the only curriculum topic. It should be part of a vastly greater sum of information. I certainly don't recommend ignoring any literature or histories.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. That's a good point

however, in my experience with home schooling (and I have helped parents who were homeschooling by tutoring their kids on certain subjects) the parents tend to not be very venturesome in going beyond their own comfort zone as far as teaching about cultures they are unfamiliar with themselves, especially if they have to make up the curriculum themselves.

[Why Syzygy]

14. Then this would not be the supplier for those folks.

They offer no science, math or geography, for a few. These are specialized courses.

I was prevented from homeschooling due to custody issues. It was much more rare in those days.

However, I had a huge reference book filled with only curriculum and reviews. I ordered a set described therein to teach phonetic reading to my son, since he failed to learn reading at school. I also had to tutor him in math. The information I was gleaning, was that parents were encouraged to select from a variety of sources. If those you are acquainted with failed to do so, they may have had better options. I'm glad I didn't have to buy an entire curriculum to get the parts I needed.

btw.. I know slews of homeschoolers too, so *experience* isn't going to shut me up.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

20. No need to be hostile

I was just giving what I gleaned from my own experience. I would hope you will continue talking about your own experiences.

[msongs]

2. warning - teaching logic to your kids will quite possibly get them to reject their religion nt

[Why Syzygy]

5. Then it was never their's to begin with.

Everyone has faith in something. It's good to reason out what one believes. False flag.

[Silent3]

24. No, everyone does not have "faith in something"...

...at least if you aren't playing fast and loose with the meaning of "faith".

[alexandria]

3. Thank you for the links.NT/

[Why Syzygy]

8. YQW. I wish I had been taught these things at the appropriate age. nt

[alexandria]

25. Me too.I am thinking of teaching my child at home.NT/

[LeftyMom]

4. Thanks but no.

1.I'm an atheist homeschooling parent.

2. I don't think western culture is any better than any other. This whole "classical curriculum" bit seems to have got popular suspiciously soon after the right started screaming about multiculturalism

3. I wouldn't buy any materials from a company who suggest that "christian apologetics" complements a course in logic as anything other than a counterexample.

[Why Syzygy]

7. Whatever.

It must shatter your world view to discover that Christian educators believe logic is an important part of good education. It certainly isn't taught in public schools. And, I understand that not everyone who home schools has a religious faith. I do wonder why you are afraid for your kids to learn to logically view religious materials.

IIUC, skeptics are supposed to be noted for being anti-conspiracy theory. However, when it comes to religion, you feel free to cast all into a vast right wing conspiracy!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. Logic isn't taught in schools anymore?

I had classes in it when I was in high school. You mean they don't teach it any more? Yikes! No wonder you are wanting folks to know about this!

My only objection to the curriculum offered is its narrow, Christian focus. I worked with home schoolers for a couple of years, and noted that the families tended to follow whatever curriculum was offered but not to add to it. My thought is that it is important for kids (and adults for that matter) to be more aware of other world views that have been around for as long or longer than the Judo-Christian view. It is only by looking at how, say, the Upanishads or the Tao have influenced thought in India and China that one can get a better idea on how Indians and Chinese view the world.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

18. What do you mean by "logic"?

I didn't get to study logic properly until the third year of a degree in mathematics (I'm not sure what stage that's equivalent to in terms of the US, because we specialise more earlier) and it was hard to follow even then.

Teaching children about problems like "one of these three people always tells the truth, the other two always lie, what colour are my socks?" might be fun, but I'm not sure it's a vital part of an education.

Teaching children about the way ancient philosophers used to classify the different sorts of fallacy and deduction and proof and so on strikes me as a bad use of school time, although it could be an interesting part of a degree in philosohy.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

22. Logic isn't taught in public schools?

You're obviously looking at the wrong public schools. My son will be taking a critical thinking and logic class next year in 7th grade.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. I have worked with parents who are home schooling their kids

and they are all liberals. I was asked in when it was discovered that one kid had a learning disability and was having difficulty learning to read. I am a certified teacher with a MEd in language arts, and have had training in helping LD kids. Couldn't get a public school gig here (nepotism runs rampant and I didn't know any members of the school board), so tutored kids for a couple of years before I moved on to another career.

Anyhoo, the parents I worked with would agree with you. They weren't atheists, but pantheists or followers of various Eastern religions. They made sure that the kiddos knew about the concept of Gaia and in one case the worldview of the guru, but didn't teach anything about Christianity or a classical Western viewpoint.

[Why Syzygy]

16. Wow.

I'm truly sorry to hear that you are so offended by Christianity.

It's quite okay to promote everything but "Western" civilization? But don't dare think about teaching "Western" civilization at the exclusion of all others? That's a lose/lose.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

19. Kindly re-read my post

I was not giving MY opinion about Christianity, merely the opinions of the parents who hired me to tutor their children.

My personal belief system says all paths lead to God, and all should be explored and appreciated.

[Why Syzygy]

21. Then why would you object

to people teaching their children their religious beliefs, including Christianity, if it all works out to the same end. eom

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

27. I am not

I was reporting what the parents of the children I tutored felt about things, just to show that not all home schooling parents are Christians, and that everyone has their own prejudices.

[Why Syzygy]

28. Maybe you need to re-read YOUR posts.

You came on the thread denouncing Western Civilization as a valid subject of study. You went on to bash Christians and suggest instead teaching YOUR views. Read it.

[moobu2]

12. One of the authors is absolutely obsessed with gay people

They all are most likely. This site looks like nothing more than a clearing house for extreme rightwing christian authors.


These quotes are just a few I grabbed from Martin Cothrans blog.

“gay rights groups may be evolving into hate groups”

“I have been involved in innumerable public debates and discussions about this issue ever since I walked the language of Kentucky's Marriage Amendment into a state legislator's office four years ago and started the process that ended up in our constitutional language”

“Most gay rights groups have not explicitly called for violence, but they positively glory in hurling hateful epithets like "bigot" at their opponents and accusing them of all sorts of malicious motives simply because they don't want to be forced to repudiate their beliefs about sexuality. Hate speech, in fact, is becoming their specialty.

At some point, someone is going to start labeling them (gay rights groups) as hate groups. Heck, why not now?”

http://vereloqui.blogspot.com/search/label/gay%20rights">Martin Cothrans blog

Peter Kreeft, the other author mentioned, has written books with titles such as “How To Win The Culture War” and “Three Approaches to Abortion” where he concludes that all abortion should be outlawed.

[Strong Atheist]

13. !

:yourock:

[Why Syzygy]

15. Uh.

I admit I didn't do a trace on every author on the site. I posted courses that might be of interest to homeschoolers. I obviously do not condone anything other than EQUAL RIGHTS for everyone, no matter who they are. I don't know where you get the idea it's a "clearing house".

I'd like to say more about the issue you raise, but that would hijack the thread.

[moggie]

17. It's your thread!

Nobody will accuse you of hijacking it.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

23. It looks like a bunch of right-wing dumbassery to me

Christian apologetics and logic are quite at odds with one another. One teaches children to defend the indefensible with illogical arguments while the other teaches a child to think for herself. My guess is that "Traditional" actually mean "Biblical" in the course title "Traditional Logic".

I have nothing against home schooling, but teaching your children garbage isn't doing them any favors. (And for those flamers who would think otherwise, I think that "Christian Apologetics" is garbage, NOT Christianity itself).

[laconicsax]

26. Umm...

Isn't a Handbook of Christian Apologetics just a compendium of logical fallacies?